Diahann Carroll

Carol Diann Johnson was born on the seventeenth of July 1935 in the Bronx, New York, the elder of two children of John Johnson — a New York City subway conductor — and Mabel Faulk Johnson, a nurse. While she was still young, the family settled in Harlem, where her gifts announced themselves early: at ten she won a Metropolitan Opera scholarship and later studied at New York's High School of Music and Art.

As a teenager she adopted the more lyrical stage name Diahann Carroll and won a spot on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Her ascent was swift. In 1962 she became the first Black woman to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, for her role as Barbara Woodruff in Richard Rodgers's "No Strings," a part written to showcase her grace and voice.

In 1968 she made history in the title role of the television series "Julia," becoming the first African American woman to star in a network series in a non-stereotypical leading role — a widowed nurse and mother, portrayed with dignity rather than as a domestic servant. The role earned her a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination. In 1974 her performance in "Claudine" brought an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and in the 1980s she brought regal glamour to "Dynasty" as Dominique Deveraux.

Diahann Carroll died on the fourth of October 2019 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of eighty-four. She opened doors that had been sealed shut, and walked through them with an elegance that never asked permission. May her name be spoken with the honor she earned.